Nov. 12 (UPI) — Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego was poised Monday night to defeat election denier and President-elect Donald Trump ally Kari Lake in a closely watched Senate race in Arizona.
According to unofficial election results from the office of Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Gallego secured 1.6 million votes, for 50% of the vote share, to Kari’s 1.52 million votes, or 47.7%.
Gallego’s win has been projected by ABC News, NBC News and CNN.
As the race was called in his favor, Gallego, a five-term congressman and Marine veteran, took to the stage in Phoenix late Monday to claim victory as the state’s first Latino senator.
“Thank you, Arizona,” he said during the press conference.
“Thank you to all the Arizonans who supported me — the Democrats, the Republicans and independents. And to those who did not support me or did not vote for me, please know that I will always still fight for you. I will treat you with respect.”
Gallego’s win represents a small victory for the Democrats, who lost both the Senate and the White House in last week’s general election.
He won the Arizona Senate seat left vacant by Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema, who had announced in May that she would not seek re-election.
Lake has yet to comment on the election results.
A former TV anchor, Lake is a staunch Trump ally who supported his Big Lie conspiracy theory, claiming the 2020 election had been stolen from him. She also lost the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race to Gov. Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes and repeatedly spread false claims challenging the results.
Gallego, the son of Colombian and Mexican immigrants, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 3rd District of Arizona in 2014. In this election, he ran for the Senate on key Democratic positions, such as reproductive rights and reforming the U.S. immigration system.